What is the Benthic zone?

The region that is known as Benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake, it includes the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The animals living in this zone are called benthos. They generally live in close relationship with the substrate bottom. These organisms are permanently attached to the bottom.Where does this ecosystem exist globally?

The benthic region begin at the shore line (intertidal or eulittoral zone) and extends downward along the surface of the continental shelf out to sea. The continental shelf is a gently sloping benthic region that extends away from:

The nearshore and estuarine zones (less than 200 meters deep)

The bathyal zone (200 to 2,000 meters)

The abyssal zone (2,000 to 6,000 meters)

The hadal zone (over 6,000 meters deep)

m the land mass.

Resources:

Threats..

The most obvious problem is oxygen and using compressed air has its share of hazards. Compressed air is denser than air at normal atmospheric pressure, and so a diver breathing it will inhale proportionately more molecules of its component gases predominantly nitrogen and oxygen.Nitrogen forms into bubbles. If the bubbles are large enough, they can get lodged in the body's capillaries and block blood flow. Depending on where the bubbles get stuck, they can lead to skin mottling, tingling, headache, pain in the joints, paralysis, stroke, and sometimes death.

Providing a preliminary description of the benthic communities and compare them with soft-bottom benthic communities elsewhere, collecting samples and studying them.

Structure and Flow in Benthic BiomesEvery physical interruption in a sameness, whether on a sandy bottom, estuary muds, or the vast abyssal plains miles down, will provide for an eruption of life, because it will provide multiple places to live with some degree of protection. Physical structure, from a pebble 1/2" tall to a mound, tends to create flow. Flow of any sort allows filter feeders, from mussels to sponges to corals, to sift food from passing water. Structure at ecotones (edges between ecosystems) tend to have so much flow they are called currents. At the edges of continental shelves there are dropoffs toward the abyss. Such abrupt changes also create flows.

Ecosystems: Freshwater ecosystems are aquatic systems which contain drinkable water or water of almost no salt content. Freshwater resources include lakes,ponds, rivers and streams, reservoirs and wetlands, also including groundwater.The United States derives many benefits from these freshwater resources. They provide the majority of our nation's drinking water resources, water resources for agriculture, industry, sanitation, as well as food including fish and shellfish. They also provide recreational opportunities and a means of transportation. In addition, freshwater ecosystems are home to numerous organisms like for example Fish, Amphibians, Aquatic Plants, and Invertebrates). It has been estimated that 40% of all known fish species on Earth come from freshwater ecosystems (NatureServe– Rivers of Life: Critical Watersheds for Protecting Freshwater Biodiversity) . Unfortunately, rivers and streams are also among the most endangered habitats.

Communities and PopulationsBenthic communities are called bottom dwellers, which live at the bottom of the ocean and are sub divided by the shore and the deep sea. Animal communities living there are called collectively the benthos, names that are derived from a Greek word meaning deep.The benthic zone is the thinnest and most clearly limited zone of all, because most benthic animals live either on the surface of the sea-bed sediments or in the top few centimeters of bottom mud. Even this zone is blurred because some sea-floor animals, such as the shrimps and fish, move away from the bottom from time to time, sometimes swimming tens or even hundreds of meters above it.